Ms Bailey, 51, was reported missing on April 15 of last year, along with her pet dog Boris.

She had supposedly stated that she ‘needed time alone’ before her disappearance. Her body and the body of her pet dog were later found in a septic tank at her Royston home, several weeks later.

Her fiancé, Ian Stewart, of Baldock Road in Royston, is alleged to have slowly drugged her for months before murdering her and dumping her body, together with her pet dog, into the cesspit.

Stewart, a computer expert, denies murder, fraud, preventing a lawful burial and three counts of perverting the course of justice.

The 56-year-old claims two men named Joe and Nick were responsible for the murder and disposal of Ms Bailey’s body.

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The trial started last week, with four days of evidence from pathologists, Ms Bailey's brother and her friends.

On Friday jurors left the court, to see the cesspit beneath the garage in her £1.5m home.

On Monday the court heard from Ms Bailey's solicitor, who claimed Stewart tried to exercise right of attorney after she disappeared, and the nurse who treated him before and after her disappearance was made public.

In the afternoon Stewart's two sons, Oliver and Jamie both gave evidence, revealing the atmosphere in the house they all shared leading up to her disappearance.

Stewart did not want to give up his mobile phone

“The photographers were leaving, and after that Stewart told my colleague that he believed Helen was in the area of Broadstairs. “He said he thought Helen would be in a rental cottage ‘somewhere’ in Broadstairs, as this was the area she likes.

“As we were leaving a health professional turned up.

“He aired concern about handing over his phone, saying this was his only lifeline to Helen and his mental support team.

“He didn’t want to give up his mobile phone at that stage.”

11:17

'Stewart asked if police routinely looked under floorboards'

“Officers requested access to the garage, and as they asked for that, Stewart didn’t seem happy about them going to the garage. “He did go and get a key to let them in.

“Stewart’s parents came in the house and we had conversations with them.

“At some point we were in Stewart’s office. He asked if police had lifted the floorboards at the Broadstairs address.

“I said I didn’t think they had, and asked him why he had asked this.

“He said one appeared to be broken and there were a few gaps in the floorboards, he asked if this was the police, and whether opening up floorboards was the standard practice.

“After this conversation took place he was much more calmer.”

11:15

Stewart helped with search when more police arrived

DC Daines adds: “My colleague made a phone call ready to make a search, but since consent was denied police did not start the search. In the meantime I spoke to Stewart, I spoke about his health, he told me about the fact a journalist had knocked on his door, but that didn’t seem to concern me too much.

“He spoke about a note that at one stage we thought had been written by Helen. It transpired to be his own note.

“Technical officers arrived at the house and Stewart assisted, saying where devices might be in the house.”

11:08

'You won't find anything in the garage'

“He said if ‘Helen does come back, I don’t want to be with her anymore’.

“I took that in the context of what he was going through.

“He went on to say that ‘you won’t find anything in the garage, if anywhere, devices will be in the house’.

“We’d spoken that searches would be conducted in the garage and the house. He continued to air concern about officers searching the house, saying he didn’t see what good it would do. “We had concern as to his physical condition, I tried to calm him down. “Stewart said he did not consent to the search taking place.”

11:07

Stewart 'asked lots of questions and became upset by a further police search of the house'

Dc Daines continued: “As we were having that conversation scenes of crime photographers arrived at the door.

“Stewart asked me if the search was going to be taking place that day, we said it would be best to do it sooner rather than later. “He started to ask a lot of questions, specifically what we were going to be searching for.

“He said he was getting fed up with all this now. We explained again the reasons why we wanted to search the house, and he said ‘you keep saying it’s the last time’.

He became upset, his breathing increased and he began rubbing his forehead.

“He appeared to be anxious and uncomfortable with what we were asking of him.

“My colleague tried to reassure him.”

11:05

Police asked Stewart to search house further

There was also further conversations about press conferences to encourage public response into Helen’s disappearance, Dc Daines told jurors.

When she saw Stewart she said he sat in the lounge and looked tired.

“He was asked to sign a consent form for us to search the house. We wanted to look for further electrical items that Helen might have used, perhaps a few that Stewart didn’t know of.

“He asked us how finding those devices would help the enquiry. We said it might, and we were looking for the boxes the devices came in.”

11:03

Stewart said he had not attempted to access Ms Bailey's bank account

Dc Daines said there was conversation about codes and passwords after Stewart’s second video interview.

“I asked him about logging into Helen’s bank account, he said he hadn’t logged into her account or even attempted it.

“We were told there were two attempts made to log into the account on April 11, but these logins had failed.

“Stewart asked did they succeed, had any money gone out? We said work into that was ongoing.”

11:01

Stewart also told police of suicidal thoughts

Detective Constable Hollie Daines is now being recalled, after last giving evidence on Monday.

She said: “Stewart told me about medication he had been taking and that he had sought psychiatric help and that was helping.

“He said he had gone to Broadstairs for a few days - he told me whilst he was there he felt like he wanted to jump off a cliff.

“He said his father had talked him down.

“He then said he was no longer suicidal and he had further appointments with the psychiatrist.

“I told him we were not going to apply pressure for further interviews, but asked if there was anything we could do to help and support him.

“He replied by asking us to find Helen - we told him we were working hard on that.”

10:55

Witness is cross-examined

Sarah Touhey is now being cross examined by the defence. She said there was a time during the May 9 phone conversation that she was discussing with Stewart how to manage his stress and anxiety. She said she told him of a range of common techniques to calm himself. That’s the end of her evidence.

10:54

Stewart told nurse he had suicidal thoughts

“I came back to work on May 13.

“He called me on that day, he said he was now back in Hertfordshire, he said he came very close to killing himself while he was there but his father had been very supportive and he was now back tidying up personal affairs - he said he was feeling better in himself.

“He was feeling confused and unable to make decisions. He told me he had declined a police interview because he thought it would be too stressful.

“He asked if he could provide my contact details to the police.

“He said he wasn’t sleeping well and was having thoughts of self harm.”

On June 3 Sarah said she had some missed calls but then spoke to Stewart again.

“On this occasion he told me he had pre-existing flights booked to fly to Palma, Spain on June 12. He asked if I thought he should go, but I felt that wasn’t my decision to make.

“He sounded more jovial on this day than previously. He was asking if he could still call me for support, and I said yes.

“My last contact with him was on July 4 - I had a message to call him. He’d been asked to get in touch when he came back off holiday and so he did.

“He said he’d been on holiday, he said it felt strangely difficult but it was OK.

“He then said he didn’t feel there was now any ongoing role for us, and he was happy to be discharged.

“I haven’t had any dealings from him since then.”

10:47

Stewart spoke to nurse again at follow-up and said he felt better

Sarah Touhey said she then spoke to Stewart again via the telephone on Monday, May 9.

“We went over his weekend, he said he’d had a difficult few days, he’d been to Broadstairs and had thoughts of jumping off the cliffs while he was down there.

“He then said he no longer felt that way and was feeling safe.

“I was concerned when I met him face to face that his behaviour had seemed so changeable.

“A colleague of mine rang Stewart again on May 10 as I was concerned.

“Stewart said he was still in Broadstairs but he was fine.”

10:45

Stewart talked about self-harming and said he was stressed by police questioning him

“Stewart was questioning whether self harming would help him remember the events he was struggling to put together.

“He talked how he’d been low, sitting at home alone, and wanted to end his life.

“He also talked about his illness and how that had affected Helen.

“He said he was stressed by police questioning him and his sons over the disappearance of Helen.

“He also talked about his first wife.

“Suddenly he became agitated in his chair, his actions were very sudden and he also looked unwell physically.

“He was allowed to go home, and was told how he could get support over the weekend, and advice about what to do if he had any suicidal thoughts.”

10:35

First witness is Sarah Touhey, a psychiatric nurse

The first witness is Sarah Touhey, a community psychiatric nurse, based in Letchworth.

She is being asked what happened on May 6, 2016.

On May 6, she was asked to see Stewart at 1pm. He was described as a ‘self referral’ meaning he had referred himself and was asking for support for his mental health, she tells the court.

She added: “He said he could not remember anything and due to stress, he was having memory difficulties.

He said his partner had been missing for 10 days and he wasn’t coping. He said his partner said she was going away for a few days, but she might not have gone there.

“He also said he lost his ex-wife six years ago and he wasn’t coping.”

10:32

Case is called

The case is due to resume shortly after a planned break in proceedings yesterday. It has just been called on and we are waiting for jurors and the judge to come in. Stewart is sat in the dock, today wearing a dark jumper over a pale shirt.